Top chefs reveal their favourite solo suppers
Suzy Bowler, Sudden Lunch!, suddenlunch. blogspot.co.uk
My partner and I are so different in our tastes that I almost always cook two separate meals: he has lots of meat and no spice, garlic or anything “unusual”, while I am inclined towards vegetarian food, experimentation and lots of flavour. I rarely decide what to eat until shortly before dinner, when I scan the contents of my fridge and make a decision. I love being creative with leftovers and keep a well-stocked pantry so that I can be spontaneous. I recently added chorizo to my list of staples and love frying it up with finely chopped red onion, cooking a piece of cod in the chorizo-scented pan and then adding cannellini beans and a few spoonfuls of tomato and chilli sauce (sometimes a bought-in pasta sauce). This is lovely with rice or garlic bread.
Kerstin Rodgers, Ms Mar- mite Lover, marmitelover. blogspot.com
Cooking for myself is the whole reason why I started the Underground Restaurant movement back in 2009. Before that, it was just me and my kid, who ate only three things: pasta, fish fingers and pizza. As a cook, this is very limiting, so I created a restaurant in my living room to have other people to cook for. Now, my daughter has gone to university, so it’s back to cooking for myself again, except on supper- club nights.
One thing I do is pot noodles, or ramen. But I don’t just use the little dried packet of monosodium glutamate that comes with it; I do “hacks” to make it taste better. Take one or two packs of noodles. Boil water and cover the noodles. Then nuke in the microwave for a minute. Leave to soak. You can pour away some of the water once they are soft. Add a squeeze of fresh lime, a few drops of sesame oil, a chopped-up spring onion, a few shavings of fresh ginger, a large pinch of fresh corian- der, a glug of soy sauce, maybe a handful of firm tofu squares. It depends what you have lurk- ing in your fridge. All this is best prepared and eaten from a heatproof Pyrex jug, which saves on
washing-up.
Jacqueline Meldrum,